2012 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. This chapter provides a historical overview of Darfur, and discusses the origins of the conflicts that gripped the region from the 1980s to the present day. Particular attention is paid to the role that Libyan and Sudanese political leaders have played in fomenting ethnic tension in Darfur, leading to the outbreak of three civil wars. After describing how and why crimes against humanity were committed in Darfur, it analyzes the exact time frame when the responsibility to protect (RtoP) could have been implemented to curb the violence. The chapter proceeds to illustrate the disconnect that existed among advocacy groups' calls for interventionist policies and the reality of killings on the ground. It continues by analyzing what effect, if any, the RtoP could have had on Darfur in light of previously ineffectual-and perhaps counterproductive-UN resolutions to stop violence, and then analyzes the causes of excess mortality that took place in Darfur from September 2003 to December 2008. It concludes with three dilemmas confronting the implementation of the RtoP in Darfur and holds out little hope that the RtoP can affect the Sudanese regime's behavior in Darfur in the near future or be an effective instrument of change without a very different approach to international crisis interventions than the current model.
